Select Sires

Sleeping on the Job - Waking Up a Cow's Reproductive System
Transcript of Select Sires' Reproductive Moment Program
on DairyLine Radio, Which Aired Dec. 19, 2002
with Mel DeJarnette, reproductive specialist,
Select Sires Inc.

In this week’s Reproductive Moment we continue our discussion of Sleeping On The Job with Select Sires’ reproductive specialist, Mel DeJarnette.

In the last segment I threw out the idea that cows are actually employees of the dairy. However, unlike our human employees, the bovines demand their pay up front. They need to be compensated in advance. Today I would like to focus a little deeper on this issue of Sleeping On The Job.

While we would never tolerate sleeping on the job with our human employees, bovine employees and their reproductive system get away with it all the time, costing dairymen some significant loss of income. After the stress of gestation and calving, the bovine reproductive system basically goes to sleep for a while to rest up and get ready to do it all over again. This is a normal, physiological state commonly referred to as "anestrous". During anestrous there is basically little to no activity occurring in the ovaries and consequently no normal heat cycles. Anestrous occurs after calving in nearly every cow and there is simply nothing we can do to stop it. However, how long and how deeply the reproductive system sleeps is usually a function of the nutritional compensation your bovine employees have been receiving. There is now study upon study upon study demonstrating the effects of nutrition on the depth and duration of post-partum anestrous. I like to make the analogy that the depth of anestrous in cows is similar to sleeping habits in humans. Some of us are light sleepers and will wake up at the drop of a hat, while others can sleep through earthquakes and hurricanes. In herds with good nutritional compensation most anestrous cows will wake up, so to speak, by thirty to forty days and milk, and the rest will be kind of just snoozing. They too will wake up when we just do something like put an Ovsynch alarm clock in the break room. However, in other herds, the anestrous cows may actually be in a nutritionally induced coma and may remain in that state for a hundred days or more after calving. Nothing is going to wake these cows up until we start getting some more wholesome items on the lunch menu.

A fairly simply method of gauging and monitoring the nutrition program is through body condition scoring. Not only is the actual level of body condition important to job performance, but the magnitude of change that cows experience has also been shown to affect the duration of anestrous and conception rates in A.I. More recently a study in Ireland found increased rates of embryonic mortality between day 28 and 60 of gestation for pregnant cows that lost body condition during this interval, compared to cows that maintained or gained body condition during this period. The job performance of your bovine employees often depends on their nutritional compensation. Before you suggest they consider a career change—perhaps in the burger industry—make sure you have fulfilled your end of the agreement. Your performance as a bovine employer can be evaluated through the routine body condition scoring of your cows. Work with your vet, your nutritionist, and your Select Sires Reproduction Solutions™ specialist to implement an effective body condition-scoring program for your herd.

Thank you Mel, that is Mel DeJarnette, reproductive specialist with Select Sires.

™Reproductive Solutions is a trademark of Select Sires Inc.

Copyright 1996-2002 Select Sires Inc. Last updated 20-Dec-2002.

Select Sires Inc., 11740 U.S. 42 North, Plain City, Ohio 43064 / Phone: (614) 873-4683 Fax: (614) 873-5751